


Simulacrum

by SykoShadowRose



Series: Syko's 2021 Valentine's Day Collection [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Depression, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Sad Ending, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SykoShadowRose/pseuds/SykoShadowRose
Summary: James pretended everything was fine. He went on living as if he could handle it. Until he couldn't anymore.
Relationships: Clover Ebi/Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen/James Ironwood
Series: Syko's 2021 Valentine's Day Collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161350
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Simulacrum

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AndyAstral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndyAstral/gifts).



James ran through the schematics one last time, ensuring that everything was as it needed to be. It had to be perfect, an exact replica, for him to do what he needed to do. Nothing less would be acceptable. Once he was certain that it was _exactly_ right, he set the machine to start building and left the room, quietly locking the door behind him. He needed to make his appearances, needed to keep anyone from suspecting what he was doing, and the machine would take at least a day to finish construction and rendering. Possibly longer with how much detail he was putting into it. He just needed a little more time.

For now he’d buy it as he needed to. He’d give Glynda whatever she needed for her to do the job of General, which she’d taken over after his accident. He’d tell Clover whatever he needed to know for him to do the job of Headmaster, which he’d handed over after… He blocked the thought. He wasn’t ready to face it again. Not when he had to go meet Glynda and then meet up with Tai and Clover afterwards. He couldn’t afford anything, any slip up, that might tell them what he was planning. 

They would stop him if they knew and he wouldn’t allow it. All the paperwork was ready and set on a timer to be submitted when it needed to be. He just needed this last piece and then everything would be okay again. Just a couple more days of acting like the world was fine. He could do it. He’d been doing it for almost two years now. A couple days was nothing.

~*~

“How are you holding up James?” Tai always asked the question at some point. James knew it but even nearing two years later, he never had a ready answer. He was convinced Taiyang changed when he asked so that he could catch James off guard and get a more honest answer out of him but he had no proof. 

“I…” Blue eyes clenched shut, the memory of Qrow’s hand slipping out of his own bringing a fresh wave of pain everytime it resurfaced. Every time he was asked that question. A hand on his shoulder pried open his eyes to find teal green watching him with concern. He swallowed hard, trying not to let the envy show as he looked away. “I don’t know.”

He heard Tai sigh and felt the blond’s warm hand wrap around his wrist to offer some comfort. James kept his eyes down, knowing that if he looked at either of them he’d be drawn to the wedding rings they wore. The chain with his and Qrow’s felt so heavy around his neck. Some days he wondered how he could stand straight while carrying it, questioned how it didn’t crush his chest in when he laid down to sleep.

Then he remembered.

His body wasn’t real.

He was artificial metal with a mind and soul, saved from a wreck that should have killed him with an experimental procedure that had a success rate of less than thirty percent. For the longest time he’d been grateful that they’d been able to transfer him from his broken and dying body to the created one he was currently living with. He’d been grateful that he’d been saved from death because it was during his recovery that he met Qrow, one of the technicians behind the creation of his body. He could remember being worried that Qrow was only interested in him because he wanted to see how his body worked, to see first hand the work he’d done. Thankfully Qrow had managed to dispel those fears without even knowing they were there with his easy attitude and his casual way of stating things. 

James had finally gotten the courage to ask him out only to learn that Qrow hadn’t asked him first because he’d been afraid of taking advantage of him. James wasn’t sure if it was because of the time they spent getting to know each other during his treatment or if there was some other power at play but things between them had moved smoothly and quickly. Their fights, when they happened, had been explosive but brief with them making up before the day was over every time. It hadn’t taken long for Qrow to become one of the most important people in James’s life. 

The day Qrow had agreed to marry him had been one of the happiest of his life, surpassed only by the actual day of their wedding. He was fairly sure his wedding day ranked up pretty high for the two men sitting with him considering that was the day they met. But he couldn;t think about it. Not when he was here where they could see him, not when they could read the expressions on his face. 

“I’m managing as well as I can, I suppose…” He still didn’t look at them and he felt both their hands give a gentle squeeze. He steered the conversation away from the topic, away from the past and the pain he kept buried inside, bringing it around to their jobs and how things were going. James allowed the gathering to last for much longer than he felt he had the energy for, to keep them from becoming suspicious, but when he stood to leave, he was slightly surprised that Clover pulled him into his embrace.

“No one’s expecting you to be okay James, but please. If you need _anything_ , just ask us. We’re here for you.”

James leaned into the contact a bit, allowing the younger man to take a fraction of his weight. If there were any regrets he had for the course he was on, it was with the man currently holding him. Clover was the closest thing he’d ever had to a little brother but he knew what he was doing was for the best. He wouldn’t be a burden to anyone anymore this way. “I know you are.”

Tai’s hand rested on his shoulder when he pulled away, eyes pained as he seconded the assurances. James offered a quiet nod before he walked away, remembering that Qrow had been important to Tai as well, had been a brother to him much the same way Clover was a brother to James. He wondered if seeing James hurt Tai as much as seeing Tai sometimes hurt James. Either way it wouldn’t matter much longer. He just had to make it a few more days.

~*~

James leaned on the counter, watching the bar that tracked the progress anxiously as it neared completion. The first step was so close to being done, he could feel his metal heart trying to race in his chest, the rings (made from the same metal at Qrow’s insistence) felt even heavier than before. He let out a shaking breath when the message flashed across the screen, alerting him that the process was now finished. He approached the pod slowly, reaching out a hand that would have shook had it been flesh to open it. The face that greeted him was perfect. Every angle was exact, every tiny mark from Qrow’s years of working with machines precisely where it should be. 

James swallowed dryly, lifting one limp hand in his own.

The memories came back fast and hard. Of Qrow waking up every day more tired than the one before. Of Qrow brushing it off over and over again, insisting he was fine while they believed him. Of _finally_ carrying Qrow to the hospital because his husband barely had the energy to get out of bed anymore. Of Qrow laying pale and weak as he slipped away from him. The last thing Qrow had felt was James holding his hand. The last thing he’d seen was James’s face twisted in anguish because he couldn’t cry. The last thing he’d heard was James’s pain when he said “I love you” for the last time, his beautiful eyes slipping shut to never open again.

He gasped in a breath his artificial body didn’t need, pulling away to start the next part of the procedure, uploading Qrow’s memories. He’d been too weak to survive the transfer James had gone through, too far gone for him to be saved by medicine. But James still had this much of him. It was enough for what he needed. It wasn’t Qrow, would never be Qrow and could never be Qrow, but it would be enough for him. He leaned on the counter again while the termal tracked the progress, hands curling anxiously at the slow rise of the number to one hundred. He knew it would take time, there were a lot of memories to upload into the simulacrum, but he also knew that he was running out of time. 

He’d done so well to keep anyone from figuring out what his plans were for so long but now that he was so close to completing them, he’d slipped up in some way. He wasn’t sure how or what he’d done but Clover and Tai had been slightly suspicious of him for the last day. The two were planning to not only come to visit but to stay for a while to “help him out” with things he still seemed to be struggling with. James was sure they were really there to keep an eye on him though. There was anxiousness in his movements as the completion status flashed across the screen and he started disconnecting all the wiring. 

James stood close while the lids twitched, finally fluttering open to reveal the exact shade of red he remembered. There was a brief flash of data in the lenses of the ocular projectors but James ignored it, already having expected it to happen. He lifted his hand, cupping a pale cheek gently as the lips he knew smiled at him. Qrow lifted a hand to brush his cheek, curling his hand around his neck to tug him down into a gentle kiss. James sighed into it, accepting the kiss even though he could tell the differences. It wouldn’t matter much longer anyways. He dropped his hand to weave his fingers with Qrow’s, softly dragging the other along behind him. It was time for the last step of his plan. James hit a button on the way out of the room, starting the chain reaction that would continue until it reached it’s proper conclusion.

~*~

Tai shuffled his feet, rolling his shoulders to try to relieve the tension that had been building up there. Clover had wanted to stop by to check on James, make sure the man was ready for them to stay with him before they actually came over. James didn’t really eat after all and with Qrow… gone… There was no reason to keep food in the house anymore. Or, at least, that was what Clover was claiming as his reason for dropping in unannounced. The blond knew his husband was really just worried about his oldest friend. Not that Tai could argue about it. There had been small, subtle signs of a deterioration in James’s mental and emotional health. Ones Tai was familiar with in some of the worst ways. 

He’d noticed a few things the day before yesterday that had really set up a red flag though. It was the reason they were here now.

Clover swore when there was no answer, scanning the passcode so he could enter the rooms. The two of them searched through the place with concern, not getting any answer when they called out for James. Tai stopped dead when he entered a room in the back of the apartment, behind a door that had been Qrow’s tinker room once, the same room that had been locked since his death. 

“Clover!” Tai turned, blue eyes worried when Clover entered, slowing his run as he took in all the machinery. 

“No… He didn’t…” The younger man scanned through the files on the terminal, his frown deepening as he went. Tai stood behind him uncertainly, not understanding the purpose behind everything in the room but guessing that if it was hidden then it wasn’t anything good. 

“Clover, what’s going on here?” Tai could see schematics for a human body, pictures of Qrow, and a color chart that he was hoping didn’t mean what he was beginning to think it meant. 

“He made him.” Clover turned pained eyes to his husband as he stood up. “He fucking _made Qrow…_ ” But the programming wasn’t complete. Not from what he could see. There were certain things missing, most notably pain, that didn’t make sense if James intended to keep this… _copy_ with him in his life.

“But…” Tai looked around the room, taking in all the little things around that he hadn’t noticed before, all the bits of Qrow that had been left behind from when he was still alive. “But it’s not really _Qrow_...”

Clover opened his mouth to respond but stopped to think what James could be up to. James knew he couldn’t bring back Qrow, it was why the last two years had been so hard on him. He’d mentioned once, shortly after losing Qrow, that he’d felt like he shouldn’t have survived the accident. That the only thing that had kept him going in the beginning was Qrow and his teasing. The idea of getting closer to the shorter raven had been enough to motivate him through his recovery. He’d worried, back then when Qrow’s death had still been fresh, if James would be able to keep going without him. As more and more time had passed, he’d started to think he was worrying unnecessarily. Now. Now he was thinking that maybe he’d misunderstood. That James hadn’t really let go of those thoughts the way Clover had thought he had.

That James had just been biding his time so he could set everything up perfectly. 

He pushed passed Tai, not hearing the concerned questions as his heart pounded in his ears. He ran flat out for the lower levels of the building, the insane need to reach the deconstruction room before it was too late, even if he knew it already was. James had spent far too long planning this, had timed everything too perfectly, to be stopped so close to the finish. He reached the level in time to hear the computer announcement of the deconstruction process being half completed and he screamed. He felt Tai’s arms lock around him as he entered the room, dragging him to a stop as the lasers continued to destroy the metal that made James and Qrow until all that was left was James’s heart and the wedding rings, the metal too dense for the lasers to burn away. Tai didn’t let go until after the machine had shut down, the process completed. Clover stumbled to the platform, gently scooping up the heart and rings before he cradled them to his chest and cried, Tai’s hand resting gently on his back while he mourned.


End file.
